Dear Christiane > Maybe I have missed the recent discussion, but to my understand, the > mixing ratio is generally defined as > x/(sum_of_all_components_including_x), which would mean in our case the > humidity_mixing_ratio would be equivalent to > mass_fraction_of_water_vapor_in_ambient_air. > For example, on the web I found that the mole mixing ratio of N2 in air > is 78%, which means that my definition of the mixing ration is applied. > Could you please comment on this? At least a comment on the definition > of humidity_mixing_ratio would be good.
I also had a look at the web, and my understanding is that the terms "mixing ratio of X in air" and "mass fraction of X in air" are used effectively interchangeably for all minor species X *except* water vapour. For water vapour, the common terms are (I believe) humidity mixing ratio and specific humidity. Specific humidity means mass_fraction_of_water_vapor_in_ambient_air =(water vapour)/(air including water vapour), while humidity mixing ratio =(water vapour)/(dry air) Both specific_humidity and humidity_mixing_ratio are standard names at present and I propose we keep them. For other X we could use different constructions. Cheers Jonathan _______________________________________________ CF-metadata mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.cgd.ucar.edu/mailman/listinfo/cf-metadata
